passamaquoddy tribe at pleasant point algae to oil project

Steve Crawford, M.ScEnvironmental Director

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Overview and BackgroundTribal energy mission statement: To be 100% self-

sufficient in energy, while safeguarding the Tribe’s lands, waters, air, human health, and culture.

Projects under development:Commercial wind – 50.5 MW wind project on

Blueberry farmIn-stream tidal power, two-FERC approved sites in

Passamaquoddy BayHalf-moon Cove tidal barrage 10 MW projectGeothermal project with Passamaquoddy Bay for

heatDomestic wind turbines, solar panels

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Wind power site

Windpower site

WINDPOWER SITES

Wind powersite

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TIDAL PROJECT SITES

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Subsea Aquamedics turbine

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RREAL solar heat panels

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Sipayik 100 gal. bio-reactor, sewage treatment plant (250 ml/4 day)

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Xingfeng Xu and Steve Crawford harvesting algae

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PASSAMAQUODDY 18FT X 28 FT GREENHOUSE

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Capillary belt dryer

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ECONOMICSPreliminary Results:

1000 gal bio-reactor will produce approx. 1 gal/wk

Demo-600 sq.ft greenhouse will produce 100 gal/yr 8 ft bio-reactor tubes, instead of 4 ft, will produce

400gal/yr/1000 sq. ftInfra-structure cost $40,000Over 20 yrs, produce 8,000 gal, = $5/gal.

THIS IS STUPID!??

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ECONOMICS (2)This is stupid rebuttal.

Enter the Federal Government.US exploration for oil in 2009 costs $79 billion;

global costs were $439 billionShell oil paid $2.1 billion just for the rights for

Arctic leases.US government paid oil and gas industry $36.5

billion in subsidies, equals 1% of oil and gas company revenues.

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Economics (3)This is stupid, continued.

The capital cost of the algae-oil project to the Passamaquoddy Tribe, to produce 100 gal of oil/yr for the next 20 years, is $0.00. operating costs = $100/yr= $1/gal

US EPA provides $68 million/yr to federal tribes in IGAP program for environmental departments. $100-120k per tribe/yr. If DOE/USDA Rural Development/DOI provided a

one-time grant of similar size to every tribe, every tribe could produce 100 gal/yr.

Those that want it, scale up to 1,000 gal/yr.

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ECONOMICS (4)This is stupid, continued.Thinking bigger:

1000 sq. ft = 400 gal in 8 ft tubes; 1 acre = 17,000 gal, 1 sq. mi = 10,000,000 gal/yr.

(100 ft plus high tubes are being used)Cost guestimate of $1,720,000/acre= $1,2 billion

per sq. mile.LAST YEAR’S SUBSIDIES WOULD PAY FOR CONSTRUCTION OF 30 SQ. MILES OF ALGAE-OIL BIO-REACTORS, PRODUCING 300 MILLION GAL OF OIL/YR

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ECONOMICS (5)This is stupid, continued.Maybe it isn’t so stupid.Carbon-neutral.Exxon-Mobil, arguably the most conservative

oil company, is investing $500 million in algae-gasoline project.

100 sq. mi production = 1 Billion gal = 3 day’s use, 1,000 sq. mi = 2 weeks.Just opened that much area in Alaska last week

for new drilling.

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Costs18’ x 28’ x 10’ greenhouse: $4,45040 – 4 ft x 1 ft acrylic tubes = $4,000Air pump=$ 1,500CO2 supply $500Plumbing= $3,000Floor and sill= $600Extraction process= $4,000Installation= 40 m-hr @$20/hr= $800TOTAL = $17110, rounded up to $20k

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SummaryKEY POINT-SELF SUFFICIENT!Carbon NeutralWaste products, when using Chlorella

(42% oil dry-weight)Waste gas = oxygen“oil cake” is dried chlorella, sold in health

food stores for $700/lbFertilizer can be sewage effluent

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For the future of us all, let’s do it

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